LaMichael James returned for teammates, coach Gary Campbell and to improve

View full sizeBruce Ely / The OregonianOregon running back LaMichael James needs 20 yards to become the team's all-time leading rusher.

EUGENE - Oregon running back LaMichael James on Monday said he bypassed the NFL for his teammates and running
backs coach Gary Campbell, while intimating 2011 could very well be his
final season in Eugene.

"I love my teammates," James said. "I
think that’s a big key. I don’t want to let those guys down. I love my
coach, too. Coach Campbell is a really big part of me and the things I
do on the football field. I just want to play one more year for him and
with the guys that I’m with now.”

One more year?

James, a fourth-year junior,
later said he would wait until the end of the season to decide if this
truly would be his final year at Oregon. But it appears that this will, and should be his swan song.

James needs 20 yards to surpass Derek Loville (3,296) as
the program's all-time leading rusher. Other than receiving the Heisman
Trophy (he placed third last year) or winning a national championship,
James, the 2010 Doak Walker Award recipient, has little left to achieve at Oregon.

That doesn't mean, however, he and the team don't plan to improve.

"You can always be better," he said. "That just depends on how hard you work.”

Expectations
are high for Oregon following last season's trip to the BCS National
Championship game, which it lost 22-19 to Auburn. James said the standards set by others won't adversely impact the team.

"Doesn't really matter," he
said. "It's all talk. At the end of the day you have to play the game.
The game is won on the football field. Talking is done off the football
field.”

A title game hangover also won't be realized.

“It’s
over," he said. "I don’t think about that one day in my life. There’s
nothing you can do about it. Can’t change it. You can't go back and play
it again. It is what it is. It's a loss. This is a whole different
chapter, a whole different season, and I’m just focused on the task
right now.”

James did receive question regarding his relationship
with Willie Lyles. Oregon paid him $25,000 for recruiting services.
That transaction and Lyles’ relationship with Oregon are under NCAA
investigation.

As to the controversy potentially impacting the
team, James replied: "We play for the team. I play for the team. We
don’t play for anybody else. If you have to worry about what the fans
say or what the media has to write about, then we’re playing for the
wrong reasons.”

Later, James was directly asked if he read Lyles’
interview with Yahoo! Sports. James said he had but didn’t know much about
the overall situation.

“I really don’t care about what outsiders have to say,” he said.

A
followup question about his relationship with Lyles was interrupted by
Oregon director of media relations, Dave Williford, who said, “we’re
talking about football. We’re not talking about anything else. If you
don’t, you’re wasting somebody else’s time here who wants to talk about
football.”